Earlier this week The Chronicle wrote an editorial that was aimed at this website without mentioning it by name. The Chronicle’s, Commentary: Our View: East End redevelopment was an attempt to convince The Chronicle’s readers that there is nothing to see, nothing going on in the “East End” that’s worthy of sharing on social media. But the photos I posted on Facebook (and the article … Read the rest

It’s important that the COMMUNITY in East Winston is not pushed out of the “East End.” Despite a lot of talk about shared prosperity and avoiding gentrification, we now have evidence that existing residents of the “East End” have been displaced without any public accountability.

The Garden Court Apartments located between Third and Fourth Street and Woodland and Metropolitan have been completely emptied of their previous tenants. Other apartment buildings nearby have been almost completely emptied as well.

After a shooting early Sunday morning outside of the current club operating at 515 North Cherry left several wounded, it appears that the City will renew its efforts to declare that property a nuisance. This time City Hall probably won’t stop until they get 515 North Cherry’s owner (Keith Neely) to relinquish the property.

Friday, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that Goler Memorial AME Zion’s property adjacent to the Innovation Quarter was for sale. Goler listed their property at Patterson and Seventh for $3.5 million with Linville Team Partners, the commercial real estate firm that has the Downtown Winston market cornered.

$3.5 million is a steep price. Who in Winston besides Wake Forest University could come up with that type of money?

When I read last Friday’s paper, I was hoping that April Fool’s Day came a few days early this year. But that wasn’t the case. State lawmakers Donny Lambeth and Debra Conrad have arrogantly introduced a bill to reconfigure Winston’s wards, without any input from the residents of Winston. They plan to reduce the City’s eight wards to six, with two councilmembers elected at large. This is another legislative power grab by North Carolina Republicans who resent cities like … Read the rest

Through exhaustive research into the city council’s records, the Winston-Salem Journal’s pages, as well as mining Robert Korstad’s work on Local 22, and conducting interviews, Shane Cruise has done a service to … Read the rest

Kaleideum: say hello to higher taxes in Forsyth County. Say goodbye to any county-wide education or anti-poverty initiatives that could have been funded with $30.5 million.

The Forsyth County Commissioners just approved an extremely generous subsidy to Kaleideum, by a 5-2 vote. This outcome was not surprising. But it was disappointing, and it will limit Forsyth County’s budgetary options for years to come.

I blame the Confederate statue that for the moment, still resides at Liberty and Fourth. The County … Read the rest

The word Kaleideum is a combination of kaleidoscope and museum. The name is still growing on me. The Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem and SciWorks, merged in 2016 to form Kaleideum. Since that time they have been working with Forsyth County to build a new, combined facility in Downtown Winston. The public-private partnership is getting more public and less private with each passing month. A $30.5 million Kaleideum bond is on this Thursday’s Forsyth County Commissioners’ agenda.

Todd Luck worked as a journalist for The Chronicle for several years. I crossed paths with Luck on a couple of occasions at community events and local government meetings. According to his public LinkedIn page, Luck began working for The Chronicle in 2005.

Monday night’s meeting of the Winston-Salem City Council started out as expected. A moment of silence was observed, then the pledge of allegiance was recited, members of the community were honored before the council addressed the business of the city.

It rained the day that the new Kernersville Library opened less than a week before Christmas. That might have been mother nature’s way of tempering expectations. But the Journal didn’t take the hint.

The Kernersville library pales in comparison to the Central Library, but a recent Winston-Salem Journal editorial offers nothing but uncritical praise for a boring building that it took eight years to build, and is still missing some finishing pieces.*

There is little question which local Winston-Salem/Forsyth County political body is currently home to the most compelling political debates. It’s not the Winston-Salem City Council, though the Confederate statue controversy has heated things up at City Hall recently.

It’s certainly not the rather dull mid-afternoon Forsyth County Commissioners’ meetings. The epicenter of political debate and activism right now in our community is the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board.

In 2018, the WS/FC School Board was home to contentious debates regarding the … Read the rest